 So, TJ can, is this working? TJ can stand. Not my choice. You'd be happy to just do your job, but you've got some different ideas. Yeah, this is just the, you know, the celebratory meeting. We won't be here passing, so. The public forum was just getting going last meeting. It's going to show us where to stand. It's the way we do it. So I guess we'll stand out here. Very good. Line them up. All in one line. Are you talking about the re-elected counselors? Just one. St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, sure. Yeah, very sure. Yeah. He's lost his job. He has a perfect community house now. He lost his job a few years ago. He said he has a couple of weeks. That's right. He's the best men's clothing guy. He's here. He's here today. There are a little more space. Can we just sit down? There's red and yellow. I've connected your phone. No, Beth does, but. I guess. There's a seat next to Richard. All the best stuff. Jane thought it was hysterical. Thanks. All the best order? Oh. Just keep that. All right. If I could ask everyone to please, please take seats. Thank you, everyone. So we will call tonight's meeting to order at seven 10. First item on the agenda. Is that the agenda? I'll take that. Thank you. Acting president Anderson. I'd like to make a motion to amend and adopt the agenda as follows to add to the agenda item 3.02 public comments oral per interim CAO Anderson per city attorney Blackwood. Thank you. I'll second that and suggest that we join together in the meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So we have a motion and a second. All those in favor. Hi. Hi. Opposed. Thank you very much. For our next. Next item on the agenda will actually be to ask four of the counselors. One from each party to please escort the mayor down to council chambers for the. For the swearing in. So I would like to ask council right. Councilor Mason. Councilor Busher. And former president Nodell to please escort the mayor in. So attorney general T.J. Donovan will now swear the mayor in. It is an honor to swear in. They're why murder first third term, especially for somebody who was born and raised in the city like myself who attended and graduated from public schools. It's a real privilege. So thank you mayor for thinking of me. And although. To the chagrin of a few. Mostly my mother. I have moved to a city south of here. I want to thank the mayor for granting me special dispensation. Thank you for bringing me home. I want to acknowledge Governor Phil Scott who's here tonight. Governor, thank you for being here. Who's here as well. Thank you. We look to see if you can. We do. these are truly unique and trying times. In this country. We look forward to your continued leadership. I believe that. This critical time induced patients history will look upon brewinton. And your leadership. As the poet say. It will be here that hope in history arrive. And brewinton will be is always has been. A shining city upon the hill. Everyone who resides here. for your leadership. Please raise your right arm, and we ask that you have to be taken into account. Under the pains and penalties of perjury. Under the pains and penalties of perjury. I, Arora Wyberger. I, Arora Wyberger. Do solemnly swear and affirm. Do solemnly swear and affirm. That I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of mayor. That I will faithfully execute the duties of the office of mayor. To the best of my judgment and ability, according to law. To the best of my judgment and ability, according to law. Congratulations. We were just elected to this body. They joined me in the center of the circle here. We're going to swear them all in as well. Thank you. Four counselors got to sit out this last round. Raise your right hand, repeat after me. Under the pains and penalties of perjury. Under the pains and penalties of perjury. I, Arora Wyberger. I, Arora Wyberger. Do solemnly swear and affirm. Do solemnly swear and affirm. That I will faithfully execute the duties of the office. That I will faithfully execute the duties of the office. Of city counselor. Of city counselor. To the best of my judgment and ability, according to law. To the best of my judgment and ability, according to law. Congratulations. A city of opportunity. I'm very grateful to the people of Burlington. For the chance tonight to take up the oath of office for a third time. I will work very hard over the next three years to make good on the trust that you have placed in me. I want to thank you to Attorney General T.J. Donovan for being part of this ceremony. Burlington is proud to have one of its own sons, leading the state on immigration and law enforcement issues. I'm grateful for your partnership on the opioid crisis and the adoption of 21st century policing practices. And I should have known that I needed some poetry. Some Irish poetry to respond to tonight. Thank you for that beautiful, beautiful words to start it tonight. I also want to thank Governor Phil Scott for joining us tonight. Governor, much of the work that you do in Montpelier impacts what happens here in this room and in this city. And I want to thank you for your leadership on addressing housing affordability and the opioid crisis. I also want to thank you for looking new at the need for common sense gun reforms here in the state of Vermont. Courage and resolve to respond to events and to change policy direction when needed is a rare thing in American politics. And the people of Burlington see and they welcome your bravery on common sense gun reform. Thank you for taking action to make Vermont safer for our police officers, for our domestic violence victims and most importantly for our children. Thank you Governor Scott. Governor doesn't work alone in Montpelier and I want to thank all the state reps and state senators who have joined us here tonight including President Pro Tem Tim Ashes here. Thank you. If you could stand and be recognized we would love to do that. As TJ said, I want to thank Mayor Peter Colval and Betsy Ferries and Mayor Frank Kane and Mary Jane Kane for being here for tonight but moreover for the incredible service and sacrifice you gave to the people of Burlington and still continue to give to this day. Thank you for your service. Mrs. Hartnett for joining us here tonight. Where, where is she? Right here, Mrs. Hartnett. Mrs. Hartnett is here with many members of her family. She has lived on Brooks Avenue for 55 years, volunteered for 25 years at the polls, raised eight kids here in this community. You know, we have your respect. We respect you Mrs. Hartnett for so many reasons not least of which I think you're the only person here in the room that can keep Councillor Hartnett in line. We need more of that. General Stephen Cray and Lisa Cray I want to thank you for being here tonight and for all you do to keep this community safe and to build the links and relationship between the people of Burlington, Vermont and the Vermont National Guard. Thank you for your service, General. I'd like to ask our incredible team of department heads and the mayor's office to rise and be recognized. It is truly one of the great joys of this job and there are a lot of them but one of the best is getting to come to work day in and day out with this great team outstanding group of individuals. I want to congratulate the recently re-elected city councillors Sharon Busher, Ollie Jang, Chip Mason, Karen Paul, Adam Roof, Max Tracy and Kurt Wright and I want to welcome back Brian Pine to this desk for the first time since 1995. I also want to recognize councillors Richard Dean, Dave Hartnett, Jane Nodell and Joan Shannon. I hope and I will do my part to ensure that the next three years are marked by the same collaboration, productivity and respectful debate that marked so much of the last six years. It's been a great pleasure to serve with you all. Finally, to my parents, Ethel and Michael, thank you for being here tonight and for all of your love, support and good teachings over the years and to my wonderful life partner Stacey, thank you, without your patience and love, support and no small amount of sacrifice, certainly wouldn't be possible to do this job. Thank you, the three of you. We send Ada and Lee Lynn home with full bellies of cake but they're a big part of this as well and they appreciate what the city has done for the whole family. Okay, I would like to start my report on the state of the city with some great news. The asphalt plants are about to open and with the council and the voter support for millions of dollars of bonding work will begin next week on more than five miles of paving that will be completed this season including repairs of all the major arterials that will damage so badly this past winter. The fact that we will be able to respond to a difficult winter so quickly and comprehensively is a function of our growing strength as a city in the areas that we have focused on together for the last six years. Municipal finances, downtown economic development improving the city's core infrastructure that supports our quality of life and economy. In the last year we secured another credit rating upgrade that will help save residents millions of dollars in the years ahead and keep Burlington more affordable. Fiscal responsibility is the foundation on which all of our successes, ambitious projects and vision for the future are built. Over the past 12 months we have rehabilitated and improved another three miles of our treasured bike path and completed the first of five years of major investments in our streets, sidewalks, parks and water lines. We have broken ground on one of the largest public-private investments in city history. Already this project has created new contracts for dozens of local firms and CEDO the Demarpment of Labor and Resource will be sharing more about their collaborative job training and business resiliency efforts in the weeks ahead. When built, the City Place Burlington Project will reduce our carbon footprint, create hundreds of new high-wage jobs and reconnect the old North End with the downtown. And after a difficult debate within these chambers we acted with broad consensus to resolve the future of Burlington Telecom in a manner that protects taxpayers, secures enduring public benefits and ensures that Burlingtonians, unlike a majority of Americans will have high-speed air-net choice for generations to come. With extreme progress on these initiatives and many more, the events of the last year including the elections here on Town Meeting Day a month ago have made a plane that our communities work towards a more just future is not done. As in many successful American cities today there are deep concerns within our community about the rising costs of housing pushing low and middle-income households out of Burlington and frustration that this problem is not being addressed quickly or effectively enough. Some of our neighbors desire more and different city engagement. We have major unmet childcare needs as a city and we continue to grapple with how best to treat those struggling with opioid addictions. These challenges come at a time when the federal government is in a period of great uncertainty and failing to meet its fundamental responsibilities of addressing climate change, gun violence, immigration reform and racial equality. Such national failures mean that we in Burlington must continue to lead and continue to step forward. We can and we will provide this leadership. In 2018 the state of the city of Burlington is very strong and it will grow even stronger in the years ahead as we work to ensure that all of our residents benefit from our recent progress and have a voice in the future direction. Though we have much to be proud of as a community we still have much work to do to become the welcoming, equitable community we aspire to be. Over the next year that work will include progress and new efforts in five areas that I'll detail tonight. Collecting and analyzing data on city equity initiatives working to turn the tide of the opioid crisis continuing to build our early learning initiative taking our next steps towards becoming a net zero energy city and strengthening our public engagement efforts. I'll then conclude with some thoughts between these efforts to make Burlington more equitable, sustainable and welcoming in our downtown housing and land use policies. For the last year and a half city employees have been meeting monthly here in this room for BTV staff meetings. Our data collection and analysis effort that attempts to measure and track the results achieved by city departments. To ensure that our city government is properly oriented towards achieving progress for all members of our community in the year ahead we'll be focusing BTV stat on equity. I've asked our department heads and the chief innovation officer to begin measuring each department's performance against new equity goals and to track this data on our public dashboard. In addition, these statistics will be collected and analyzed in an annual equity report that will be published as part of the city's traditional annual report starting next town meeting day. Nowhere is our work more urgent and nowhere is there more at stake than in our efforts to turn the tide to the opioid crisis. It has been four years now since Governor Peter Shulman focused the nation on this epidemic and yet in 2017 again the death count attributable to accidental opioid overdoses continue to rise nationally and here in Vermont. More Americans now die every year as a result of accidental drug overdoses and were killed in the entirety of the Vietnam War. Too many of those deaths continue to happen right here in Chittenden County. Since last August, we have lost 13 of our neighbors to this terrible scourge. One of those lost was Sean Blake aged 27. This is a picture of Sean and his parents. Sean's parents, Kim and Tim a doctor at the University of Vermont Medical Center and a professor at St. Michael's College lived just minutes from here in South Burlington. They wanted me to share Sean's story this evening as they did in the same room in February as part of the monthly community staff meeting Burlington convenes so that the reasons law enforcement, medical, treatment and social service agencies can grapple with the challenges this crisis poses. The Blake's shared their son's story in the hope that we can as a community learn from it. Sean grew up here and he loved the lake and mountains. He was bright, creative and active in theater and athletics. As a young man, he struggled with bipolar disorder and addiction and he had an adulthood marked by dramatic rises and falls. After a brief stint in the Navy, Sean's addiction dragged him downward to the point that he was incarcerated at the infamous Rikers Island in New York City. There, his life actually started to turn to receive mental health treatment and medicine to treat his addiction. He returned from that experience to Vermont with these supports in place and he did well until going off these medications. When he went off treatment, he returned to prison here in Vermont where medicine at that point was not available. Just over a month after he was released last year, he overdosed and he died. The Blake's couldn't be here tonight because they are attending a memorial service in Vermont. Vermont's prisons have been among the leaders in this country in creating opportunities for opioid treatment, yet as Sean's story shows we still have work to do. One of the most important bills before the legislature this year is S-166 which would continue to expand treatment options for people in Vermont's prisons and build on the work that that department has already begun. The city strongly supports its passage as a life-saving piece of legislation and believes it will be an important step to expanding access to treatment in prisons is only one needed step. In the year ahead, we must dramatically expand access to medications that could help save lives. Burlington is proposing that we move towards having a system where a health professional prescribes methadone or buprenorphine to opioid addicted patients at the time patients are ready to start treatment and accept treatment, increasing their chances of freeing themselves from the grip of this terrible addiction. That's not today in too many cases. Currently patients often have to wait an average of 17 days between their request for treatment and when they first receive a prescription from the hub in Chittenden County. We should take advantage of every opportunity, every moment when someone is ready for treatment to start their medication rather than telling them to wait until Monday or to wait until next week or the week after that knowing that for them to stave off withdrawal, that patient who wants treatment will likely use illicit drugs multiple times maybe even dozens of times before treatment becomes available and the opportunity for a better path will be gone. This approach is guided by the emerging hopeful body of evidence that rapid access to medications saves lives. For example, a randomized study in Connecticut found that twice the rate of success in treatment when overdose patients were offered buprenorphine right in the emergency room. With this evidence in Burlington, we're working with experts at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and elsewhere. One longtime member of the Safe Recovery, our syringe exchange program told me that in more than a decade on the job, she has seen so many moments of interest and treatment appear only to slip away for good. No more. Our goal for the year ahead, which we are pursuing with the UVM Medical Center and representatives are here tonight will be to improve rapid access to medication in order to start effective care at the right place and at the right moment to save lives. I want to thank the Burlington Police Department and the Burlington Fire Department and their chiefs for leading the way on taking on new roles and responsibilities in response to this crisis while at the same time continuing to meet the public's very high expectations in all other areas of public safety. In 2018 we'll bring the same focus on innovation and results to grow the new Burlington Early Learning Initiative. While we had conducted extensive research with you, the city council approved the first allocation of city funds for this effort last July with that commitment, the city stepped into a new area where we had little precedent locally or nationally to look to. What we did have is clarity that hundreds of our youngest Burlington toddlers were not getting the high quality of care they deserved and a shared intent to take action to address this challenge. Infant and toddler care is a major equity issue. When kids do not have access to high quality care during this critical time they start pre-K and kindergarten already behind and too many of these kids then struggle to ever catch up. Nine months after the program was created it is starting to make an impact on the ground. Together, last week we made our first grant to a center that will create four much needed new Burlington infant and toddler childcare slots. In the weeks and months ahead I look forward to working with the city council and with the neighborhood revitalization committee in particular to finalize our next ground of grant requests shape the new program strategy for its second year and set a path for securing new partners and funding that will expand the impact of this initiative throughout the city in the years ahead. Also in 2018 we will continue to work towards becoming a net zero energy city with continued focus on the district energy project. This project represents perhaps the single biggest emission reduction action we can take as a community. Burlington Electric has been leading a unique partnership that would move the project to the advanced engineering and design phase and put us in position to resolve the feasibility of this effort by the end of the calendar year. I also appreciate very much the support of our Chittenden County delegation who successfully moved forward a new bill in the past week that will allow Burlington Electric to access over one million dollars in thermal energy incentives to apply to district energy. Thank you to the legislators for that work. How the city continues to pursue this and other work we must continue to communicate and engage the public fully. We excel at public engagement as a community in many ways and we can do even better. Over the next year we will complete three important improvements to our public engagement efforts. First we will complete and bring to the council for approval of the city's first language access plan. Our city is growing and welcoming English language learners into our neighborhoods every day and we must be thoughtful and consistent that impact city services. Second we will bring to the council for discussion and approval a new public engagement handbook to guide our efforts to forward and improve city initiatives and finally as proposed by others in the recent campaigns and consistent with a resolution that Councillor Karen Paul has proposed to the administration we will look to review the role and responsibilities of the neighborhood planning assemblies and how the processes by which city departments work with the MPAs and other stakeholders that we can be improved. These initiatives will do much to make our community more equitable, sustainable and welcoming. They will ultimately only succeed however if we get the fundamentals right and fully fix our downtown housing and land use policies. Growing, dynamic, evolving cities have room and opportunities for people of all backgrounds, incomes and ages compact, dense, walkable and bikeable cities are also the most sustainable communities as residents consume far less energy heating and cooling their homes and workplaces and drive far less than their suburban and rural counterparts. In contrast communities that put up regulatory walls to stop change lock in some of their physical character but they lose their community's soul and the bargain. Young households in the middle class are pushed out by demand and older, wealthier households while low-income households, refugees and others seeking opportunity are blocked from even getting in the door. This is the future we were headed towards just six years ago. We had created only a couple hundred downtown homes over the prior decade despite mounting demand. Younger households were measurably being forced out of the downtown in that period as the average Burlington rent climbed to 44% of median income. Over the last six years I'm happy to say the council and the voters have repeatedly taken action to open new opportunities with our downtown development policies and we are now on a different trajectory. Since 2013 more than 1200 downtown homes have been built or are in the construction pipeline. This effort is starting to work. Vacancy rates are edging upwards and landlords are reporting new price and quality pressure as they seek tenants. And this is happening before the first of the major new downtown projects opens at Champlain College's 194 St. Paul Street this fall. This work, however, is not done. At front doors and coffee tables around the city this winter the cost of housing continued to be the most urgent problem on the minds of our voters. Young couples told me they were on the verge of leaving Burlington or even the state for rent relief. Retirees described frustrated searches years of frustrated searches for downtown apartments near their grandchildren and students many of whom are here tonight turned out in very high numbers this town meeting day in large part because they are demanding better living conditions. In short we have much more work to do to work our way out of the affordable housing crisis. On March 6th after much debate the city voted to keep moving forward with this work. In the year ahead we must bring new resources to our local housing trust fund and get our parking, affordable housing student housing and other local land use policies right. This work is difficult and will continue to require focus and commitment. When we get it done however we will ensure that Burlington will remain what it has been in the decades ahead will remain in the decades ahead what it has been throughout its history. Vermont City of Opportunity where all are welcome to start a career and a business where people of all backgrounds can buy a home and start a family and where Burlingtonians of all ages thrive. Thank you all for being part of this important annual tradition I'm excited and eager to take on the challenges of the next year together let's get back to work and let's have a great 2018. Congratulations. I would like to move to the next item on our agenda which will be a public comment. Just one person wanting to speak so they can come up and use the mic here it will be James Lockridge. I want to send congratulations out to the mayor and to newly elected counselors especially to Brian Pine who I'll be proud to have represent me in Ward 3. During this election we saw many candidates say that Burlington needs more transparency and more citizen voices welcomed into decisions in city government as people like me have spoken up since 2014 to ask for more transparency and representation in how our arts office is governed we were told by BCA leadership that the lack of response is the response. While we were asking for more representation for the arts community including music and theater and dance the board of BCA voted to allow the annual selection of board members who had already completed the three three-year terms allowed by its bylaws 30% of our city's arts office advisory board is now in practical terms permanent and has been there for more than 10 years 30% of the board will never be new voices at a meeting of the parks arts and culture committee the director of BCA described these permanent voting board seats as rewards if the mayor were to declare that one-third of the city council were to hold permanent voting seats and the mayor were to call those seats rewards would you be okay with that or would you be inspired to do the job of leadership you were elected because you're trusted to steward our democracy and make us proud of it Burlington city charter says that you the city council is responsible for oversight of BCA if fairness and transparency is going to happen there it will be because you as a person with integrity and as an elected representative choose to live up to the values that got you elected thank you for hearing this it hasn't been heard yet thank you now move on to the next item which is 401 which is election of a new city council president so I will open the floor to nominations please Councillor Nodale thank you very much acting president it's my pleasure to place a nomination the name of my colleague and friend councillor Kurt Wright Kurt was just recently re-elected by the way in his first unopposed race ever in either the state house or the city council just showing how much his ward feels that he really represents them well Kurt is a seasoned legislator having served of course many years with distinction in both the city council and the state house we know that Kurt will be fair to all city councillors that everyone will have equal access to the floor and to move forward their initiatives I'm very confident that he will defend the council's role in our city government as a strong and independent body while working productively with the mayor to move the city forward finally I know we all know that he will serve in this role and yield the gavel with humor and patience and I'm sure everyone is looking forward to that so with that I will close my nomination and I'm very very proud to be your colleague and friend and I'm very proud to be in your right thank you councilor Nodal any other nominations seeing none we will ask for a vote all those in favor of electing Councilor Kurt right as president of the city council please say I I thank you congratulations president right thank you and I will make this brief because councilor Hartnett has let me know get this over with the NCAA Is anybody surprised? Just a few quick comments though, Councillor Hartnett. I do want to thank the council for the support and the confidence. And thank you, Councillor President Nodal, for those really gracious kind remarks. I, Councillor Hartnett, has also let me know that I have big shoes to fill. I don't think anybody could run a more efficient meeting than you have for the last three years and put in the kind of countless time and energy you have to the job throughout these past three years. I know on a daily basis. So thank you, Councillor and President Nodal. Thank you. The one promise I want to make to all my fellow councillors is that no Republican colleague on the council will get any special privilege from it. Just a few quick, everybody's been mentioned out there, but again I want to thank Governor Scott for being here. I don't remember, of all the times I've been here for mayoral state of the city speeches, I do not remember seeing a governor. Maybe I missed one, but thank you Governor Scott for being here. I could not be more happy to have you here. And of course, the two former mayors. One more time, Mayor Cain. We all love Mayor Cain. And Mayor Clavel, I missed those Monday nights. We had a lot of fun. And I know you missed seeing me on all those Monday nights in the past. Mayor Clavel reminds me on a regular basis that he is now my constituent and he will be weighing in regularly. Lastly, or actually one more. Again, Mrs. Hartnett and the Hartnett family, I'm glad they're all here. But Mrs. Hartnett, you deserve a medal. And I will be seeking your advice and help with Councillor Hartnett from time to time. Lastly, I do want to thank every former city councilor for being here. I see Barb Perry. I see Tim Ash. I see Mike Monty. Celine Colburn. And who did I miss? If there's any former city councilors, please stand up. Any others that I missed? Thank you. That was last, but this really is last. Any school board members that are out there, please rise. I'd like to acknowledge the school board members. I know things are quiet on the school board right now. So with that, I just again, pledge to the city council that we will work well together. I look forward Mayor Weinberger to working together with you on the many initiatives that you just outlined for us and working together with all councilors in a cooperative and collaborative spirit. And let's make it a great year. With that, I will turn it over to Councillor Mason to move to the next item on the agenda, which is the election of the Board of Finance. And I will turn it over to Councillor Mason to for a motion. Good save, President Wright. I would like to, at this point, it is my pleasure to nominate Councillors Busher, Nodell, and Paul to the Board of Finance, each of whom have served, you know, putting in countless hours in support of the city in our efforts over the last couple of years. And I know you, you know, I'm hoping you'll have unanimous support of this council as you move forward in that endeavor. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Mason. Is there a second to that motion? Seconded by Councillor Roof. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favour of electing the slate of Councillor Paul, Councillor Nodell, and Councillor Busher to continue to serve on the Board of Finance, as Board of Finance members, please say aye. Any opposed? We have our Board of Finance for the next year. Congratulations. And with that, Councillor Nodell. I move we adjourn. Seconded by Councillor Hartnett. Any opposed? All those in favour of adjourning? Please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We're adjourned. Thanks for everybody for coming out tonight.